Just looking at the poll, it is currently a very close race between Batman, Uncharted 2 and Demon's Souls. They are all close enough that I think any of these three games still has a good chance at the top spot.

Considering HGSS are fundamentally different games than the original Gold and Silver, I think it's a bit unfair that they cannot get a vote here :(

Oh well... I will say Wii Fit Plus. Terrific game, no joke. I remember playing it with my family... and it was A BLAST. Even better than Wii Sports/Resort. So many games and exercices...

Also, during the pandemic it helped me loose 25kg! I went from 90kg to 65. All thanks to Wii Fit Plus and eating less. Forever grateful to this little game and the Balance Board ^^

Dang NSMBW really is not loved by many, a Mario game near the bottom of a poll on here :o

It was just OK, fun in multiplayer but didn't grab me in single player either

Shaking the wii mote as input also sucked, Mario with imprecise controls, no thanks.


@HoloDust Yes Machinarium, that was awesome. Reminds me I still haven't finished Creaks. We were playing it together and something came up and it kinda slipped between the cracks. I'm keeping my eye on Phonopolis (or rather keeping it in my wishlist).
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1206070/Phonopolis/

Amanita design hasn't disappointed me yet.

I got Wii Fit Plus for the Wii, which seamlessly upgraded to Wii U later. It got me into a regular exercise routine and while not using the game anymore I still do a lot of the strength exercises with weights added, as well as some of the yoga / stretch ones. I Still use the balance board for push up & plank, better on the wrists yet it long ago stopped working. I didn't need to lose weight myself but it was interesting to see how my weight steadily fluctuated over the years, lowest in October, highest in March.

The games were fun in it as well and Shaun White Snowboarding was awesome with the balance board (half pipe challenges really made you sweat).

I think I haven't got to anything post Chuchel. I like pretty much anything they did, though I find Machinarium to be better than anything they've made after it - that I played of course. I'm still hoping they will actually revisit that universe some day.

I don't claim to be an expert on any Pokemon game.  Perhaps these games are more different than I thought.  Here is the type of difference that I'm looking for: If you were familiar with the original game and someone handed you a copy of the new game without telling you what it was, could you recognize that it is supposed to be the original game?

For example, I originally saw Super Mario All-Stars in a store with Super Mario 1 running on it.  Even though they had rebuilt the graphics engine from the ground up, I immediately recognized that it was Super Mario Bros 1.  Also there are differences between the home and arcade version of Super Mario Bros, but they are so similar that they still just look like variations of the same game.  I'm lumping all of these variations together as Super Mario Bros 1.  On the other hand, Metroid: Zero Mission is as different from original Metroid as Super Metroid is.  It isn't just the graphics that are different.  Level design, enemies, # of boss fights, controls, and power ups are different from Zero Mission and NES Metroid.  Because of that Zero Mission feels more like a new Metroid game rather than an updated version of the original.

So, I will ask you to make a judgement call if I am in error.  Is HeartGold/SoulSilver so different that you can't tell it's supposed to be an updated Gold/Silver?  I've had people swear to me that the PS4 version of Shadow of Colossus is totally different, but when I look at gameplay of it, I can tell that it's supposed to be Shadow of the Colossus and not Ico or The Last Guardian or a forth Team Ico game I've never heard of.  The "remake" has to be pretty different, more like a "reboot" really, for it to qualify as a new game.

I haven't played very many JRPGs, but that certainly matches my impression. I actually have conflicted feelings about the music of FFXIII, but it's definitely not even close to the level of Uematsu's works. I personally could appreciate the heavy male-orientation of FFXV, but... it wasn't really my cup of tea either - but it was quite well done, for what it is. I feel like Final Fantasy as a series is perhaps technically keeping things that keep it Final Fantasy while feeling less and less like Final Fantasy, kind of like Doom (at least in my opinion).

This year has an easy winner for me. At this point, things were getting better, and 2009 is a pretty good year. From the poll I played Uncharted 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The 2D Mario game was fun but the 'New' series never hooked me enough, and I never beat it. Uncharted 2 was amazing though. The original game was already fun enough, but this was the refined version. It probably cemented my return to consoles as the platform of choice for me. The story was amazing, likeable characters, the setpieces grand and the action thrilling.

Besides those I also played Zelda Spirit Tracks, Guitar Hero 5 from the 'other' list. And Wii Fit Plus and Angry Birds but... yeah. Spirit Tracks was a pleasant surprise, I liked the game a lot and thought it was a great Zelda game, much better than predecessor Phantom Hourglass, and I even preferred it to The Wind Waker. However it was still a fairly low key game. My Guitar Hero addiction continued, and I got Guitar Hero 5 immediately. I didn't like the setlist as much as the previous two games however and I would more often return to those.

Besides those games, my Guitar Hero streak also continued with Guitar Hero Metallica. It became one of my favourite entries, because the songs were so suitable to this kind of gameplay. Lastly I also played The Sims 3, Anno 1404, Cities XL and Empire Total War. Cities XL I hoped would be a new SimCity after a game-which-shant-be-named killed that series, but Cities XL was shallow. The Sims 3 was again more of the same and I wouldn't get into it. Anno 1404 however was a return to form for this series. Just the right amount of depth and content, and you can build great cities in this game. It became one of my favourites in the series and I played it a lot. Likewise, Empire Total War was a great follow-up to its predecessors. Of course, as a Dutchman I loved playing as my own country.

At the end of the day this year is highlighted by three great games for me, which all took their place among my favourites; Anno 1404, Empire Total War and Uncharted 2. Of these Uncharted 2 reigns supreme.

The fact Demon's Souls didn't win pains me deeply.

Uncharted 2? More like Uncharted who? if compared to Demon's Souls. (and I love Uncharted as well).

NSMBWii was a good game, it just didn't quite live up to previous games in the series like Bros 3 and World which rank among the best platformers of all time.
Though they're not quite GOTY material, I feel like Dead Space Extraction, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, and House of the Dead Overkill deserve a shoutout. It was a good year for these underrated third party titles on Wii.

My top 5:

1- The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (NDS)

2 - Left for Dead 2 (PC)

3 - MadWorld (Wii)

4 - GTA Chinatown Wars (NDS)

5 - Punch-Out!!! (Wii)